Heart of the Black Matrix
Bayan Knights Presents: Heart of the Black Matrix was a one-shot comic book and spin-off of the the popular Bayan Knights. It was written by Don Celadina with Mark Wong from a premise by Gilbert Monsanto and illustrated by Erwin Ropa with ink assists from Renie Palo. The book was released in 2012 under the Bayan Komiks imprint. Characters * Mao from creator Mark Wong * Zheya from creator Myles Chua * Overdrive from creator Mark Rosario * Kawal from creator Don Celadina * Talim from creator Omi Remalante Jr. * Sarhento Sagrado from creator Gilbert Monsanto * Council from creator "Teardrop" Plot The story begins with Mao, a combat-doctor from a parallel world, walking back to his temporary job at a town clinic. He hears a scream upon arriving at the door and discovers his "friend" inside: dead. He finds a note near the body with the worlds "BLACK MATRIX". The story switches to a few hours ago where we find a school girl named Selene waking up inside an empty classroom. When her best friend Jared tells her that he'll escort her home, she declines saying that she has some other thing to do. She teases him about calling her Selya instead of Selene and locks the door after he leaves. Jared told her that he was the teen hero Overdrive, not knowing that Selene really knows Overdrive as she's actually the elven dream-walker Zheya. Seconds later, she receives a message from her partner Overdrive who had just arrived. Meanwhile at the Bayan Knights HQ dubbed "The Facility", we find the amnesiac cyborg codenamed Kawal trying to locate any information about himself using Sarhento Sagrado's super-computer. Just as they are about to give up, they receive an anonymous email about cybernetic experiments being done at Mt. Cristobal. Kawal recognizes the scientist heading the experiments as Jessica Waldorf, one of the doctors who worked on him. Upon arriving at "The Facility", Overdrive and Zheya are instructed by the mystery man named Council to go join Kawal and the vigilante Talim in the briefing room after he overhears the teenagers' conversation about fighting aswangs that reminded Zheya of a dream she had of a girl with a black heart. We then switch to 1 hour before the beginning of the story. Council appears before Mao and tries to explain to him about a mission he needs him to join. Mao refuses but Council tells him that he already told Sagrado to expect him. Mao continues walking back to the clinic and hears a scream upon reaching the door. Mao arrives as Kawal, Overdrive, Zheya and Talim are about to leave. He boards the plane with them and Kawal explains the mission. They are headed to a lab at Mt. Cristobal where scientist have been experimenting with merging cybernetics and aswang biology. However, the scientists' real goal is to awaken the "Black Matrix", a device that can infect and instantaneously change aswang with cybernetic enhancements. The scientists implanted the device on a young girl and their group's mission is to stop the project from being completed. Upon arriving near their destination, the group realized that their "invisible" plane has been detected and they need to parachute out before it is hit by enemy missile fire. Upon landing however, the team are surrounded by hordes and hordes of aswang that were released by the lab to stop them. What follows are copious amount of blood and guts as the team cuts, shoots and punches their way through the horde. Once inside the lab, the team discovers that even the scientists have been turned into aswangs. Overdrive guides the team to their destination with Kawal providing cover from the hordes of aswang behind them. Kawal is suddenly attacked by Waldorf, both recognizing the other. Waldorf hints that Kawal isn't who his handlers told him he was. Waldorf then divulges that she has disabled Kawal's weapons revealing that her attacks weren't random. Meanwhile, Overdrive, Zheya, Talim and Mao reaches the main lab where the girl is being held. While Overdrive downloads files from the computer, Talim, Mao and Zheya tries to free the girl from the tech implanted on her to no avail. The Black Matrix awakens and assimilates the young girl who then attacks them. With Zheya down, Talim and Mao attacks the monster but Overdrive tells them it's unkillable, the Black Matrix not only gave it cybernetic enhancements but it also exaggerated its healing abilities. Talim gets knocked away but Mao presses on accusing the monster of killing his "friend". The monster admits to having a say on how things were carried out while it was being incubated. In a fit of rage, Mao swiftly cuts off the its head before finally collapsing. Zheya wakes up and sees the monster's beheaded remains. Disappointed that they killed the girl in the process, Overdrive tells Zheya they had no choice but Zheya maintains that there is always a choice. Suddenly, blood splashes on Zheya's face and she sees Overdrive impaled by one of the monster's cybernetic enhancements. She then sees the monster reattaching its own head. Meanwhile, we see a battered Kawal still trying to fight off Waldorf while internally rebooting his systems. With his weapons down, Kawal redirects his anti-gravity output (which enables him to fly) to his arms and then blows away Waldorf with one shot. Waldorf tells him to finish her off but Kawal refuses and asks her to tell the truth instead. She tells him that what he doesn't know can't hurt him and that maybe what he is calling lies are actually the truth. Waldorf then stakes herself through the heart causing her to burst into ash. Zheya cradles Overdrive in her arms. Overdrive apologizes as he won't be able to escort her home tomorrow. He then calls her Selya with his last breath confirming that he is indeed Jared. With her best friend dead, Zheya enters a trance. She is surrounded by a white light that put fear into the Black Matrix monster. However, before Zheya is forced to kill, Talim appears behind the monster and stabs it both through the Black Matrix heart and brain, killing the monster permanently. The epilogue of the series shows Kawal telling Sagrado of his failure with Sagrado disagreeing. A picture on Sagrado's computer hints at Kawal's next mission. Zheya is shown sleeping in her bed with tears on her face as a potential new enemy prepares. Meanwhile Mao second guesses the identity of his friend's killer as it does not make sense that a note is left for him to find. What was the motive? Council is then shown checking on Overdrive's lifeless body. Suddenly, Overdrive's eyes open and the teen hero gasps for air. Sequel Originally planned as an ongoing series, future issues were supposed to focus on (1) Mao's quest to discover what actually happened the night his "friend" was killed (2) Overdrive and Zheya's reunion after the former's mysterious resurrection (3) Kawal discovering that the Black Matrix nightmare is far from over. As well as appearances from other Bayan Knights heroes such as Noah and Kabalyero.